I’ve specifically mentioned shopping in my title because Amazon is nowhere near just a shopping platform. However that’s all I’m talking about today.
Years ago, maybe around 2006 I remember placing my first order on Amazon. It was for a PS3 game and I remember specifically having to register an email address, to then register an Amazon account, and then deposit some money into my bank account so I could pay with my card (back then I was paid cash). It was a bit of a shot in the dark, I wasn’t sure when my order would arrive if at all and it felt strange making a purchase over the internet. The game did arrive (nowhere near as quickly as it would with “prime delivery” today) and it cost me substantially less than if I’d purchased it at my local game store.
Over the years I’ve used Amazon quite a lot. As someone who finds a day out shopping, particularly around Christmas time unpleasant and downright stressful having the ability to choose gifts for my loved ones at my leisure and from the comfort of my own home has always appealed to me. It used to be a brilliant platform that collated good quality products from all the shops and brands you could imagine and offer you them at a slightly cheaper price. Until it became something else…
Those products from well known brands are still there, but you’ll be hard pressed to find them. Amazon opened their arms to drop shippers armed with rafts of unbranded Chinese goods. All of them have brands that are just random combinations of letters such as “Oakxco”, “Yatwin” or even “Tiixxa” (Those were the first 3 results from a search of “Phone case”). These random names are a result of Amazon requiring their sellers to have a brand that is a registered company, so Chinese sellers just throw a random combination of letters in to try and avoid clashing with another brand. If you search a generic term like I just have that is all you will see. If you want a specific brand, you have to be specific in your query. However even that isn’t bulletproof, sometimes unknown brands will still creep in.
So, why am I coining this the “Downfall of Amazon”? Well quite simply, Amazon clearly didn’t realise what their USP (Unique Selling Point) was. You could buy the products you wanted, all collated in an easy to find format, at a better price than a brick and mortar store and it all arrived next day. The tantalising allure of extreme profit margins, only possible from selling lower quality Chinese goods at an extreme margin was clearly too strong to resist. Not only are there unknown brands now, but there are also fakes amongst the genuine listings that are impossible to distinguish until you receive the product.
I don’t use Amazon at all anymore. If I want something from a well know brand, I’ll purchase it from Argos. I can collect it the same day, and I can be confident it will be genuine. If I want some Chinese tat I’ll go direct to the source. Aliexpress is my Chinese marketplace of choice, but others use Shein or Temu. The prices are generally less than half of what Amazon charges for the exact same product and I’ve even received genuine products from there when I didn’t expect to. For small electronic components, or things needed for a repair they’re unbeatable. Just this week I received my replacement Oneplus 13 screen with frame after ordering it only 5 days earlier. It was delivered to me for £130 and is a genuine product. Amazon don’t even sell this screen and sourcing the part directly from Oneplus would’ve cost me £280.
More and more I’m hearing people turning to buying direct from China. People that barely even know how to use a computer, not just the savvy. When someone can get a product for less than half price they could locally, with good customer service and within a week you can bet they’re going to jump at it.
Some people will say we should be buying local, supporting our own countries economy but honestly our government has made that impossible. We are in a cost of living crisis where every penny counts. Food is getting more and more expensive every week. Aside from that our brick and mortar shops have become so poor that I wouldn’t even be able to find the products I needed if I wanted to. Our town centres seem to be transforming into services rather than shopping. There is an abundance of bars, coffee shops, sandwich shops, butchers and bakeries. However if I wanted an electronics shop I’d have to travel 20 miles, and they don’t even have a store front I’d have to either order online or order at the counter from the catalogue. All we have in towns are vape shops, phone case shops and charity shops. I’m afraid the damage is done, and as much as I want to do the right thing I don’t have the energy to keep fighting.
If Amazon does fall I can’t say I’ll be sad to see it go. They’ve become too much of a monopoly, they’re prices aren’t that good anymore, the sales are appalling and “prime”‘s pricing has increased far too much over the last few years. They treat their staff poorly, and the Amazon delivery drivers desperate to meet unrealistic targets are a danger on the roads.
Leave a Reply